Lifull FY24 Results: Management Restructure Mostly Complete After Difficult 2024

Lifull Co, which operates Japanese real estate marketplaces Lifull HOME's, has released its full-year financial results for 2024.

Highlights include:

• Revenue stood at ¥34.4 billion ($222.5 million), down 5% year-on-year.
• Net losses for the year of  ¥3.2 billion (-$20.7 million), down from a profit of ¥1.8 billion ($11.6 million) last year.
• The domestic HOME'S segment saw revenues of ¥24 billion ($155 million) , up 3.4% year-on-year.
• Overseas Segment losses widen to ¥1.4 billion from revenues of ¥8.1 billion
• In the Overseas Segment, aggregation revenues dip ¥800 million from last year
• Lifull records an Impairment Loss of ¥3.8 billion ($24.5 million) for misplaced assumptions for the Overseas segment

Lifull operates one of the world's most diverse portfolios of any real estate portal operator. Domestically it runs the Homes.co.jp portal as well as several adjacent businesses including senior care, a search engine for storage solutions and an investment company.

Lifull's Overseas segment includes the aggregators Mitula, Trovit and Nestoria and real estate verticals dotproperty, Hipflat, LaEncontré and Properati.

The business is trying to move away from aggregation revenues to direct home-selling services from businesses including Fazwaz (Thailand) and Lamudi Mexico, with circa 50% of revenues now coming from tech-enabled brokerage products and real estate portals.

Despite this, ARPA fell slightly, 4% YoY, to ¥66,586 ($426) this year.

However, Lifull's Overseas Segment deserves the most attention from the firm's full-year financial statement.

As a result of Lifull's strategic decision to move closer to the transaction, Overseas (aggregator) revenues slipped slightly (1.2%) to a loss of ¥1.4 billion for the year, a massive 600% widening from 2023's loss of ¥200 million—especially when compared to the relatively small revenue change.

This strategic refocus led the business to hand over management responsibilities to the Fazwaz management team earlier this year.

Management of Lifull Connect was transferred to a team led by Michael Kenner, one of the founders of Fazwaz. Fazwaz increased its stake from 35% to 45%, while Lifull will reduce its holding from 65% to 55%.

Lifull says that the segment has seen some improvement since June (the new management team was put in place in January 2024) but there are questions over whether the aggregator even has the potential to achieve profitability again if Lifull plans on focusing its attention elsewhere.